Gujarat RS polls: EC accepts Congress demand, disqualifies votes of 2 Congress rebels
The EC has asked the Returning Officer to start the counting of votes after segregating the rebel votes.
New Delhi, Ahmedabad: The Election Commission late on Tuesday night declared votes of two Congress MLAs who had cross-voted in Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls as invalid. It asked the returning officer to segregate the two ballots and proceed with the counting.
The BJP has nominated BJP chief Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani for the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state and they would sail through. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel is pitted against the saffron party’s Balwantsinh Rajput for the third seat.
Earlier, high drama was enacted at the Election Commission over the delay in start of counting for the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections after Congress approached the poll panel demanding cancellation of votes of its two MLAs for showing the ballots to Mr Shah.
The Congress was the first to move the Election Commission demanding cancellation of votes of its two disgruntled MLAs for allegedly showing their votes to persons other than the authorised party representatives.
Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and R.P.N. Singh also produced a video of the poll proceedings to the commission and demanded that votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel be cancelled as per law since they violated the “secrecy of ballot”.